Monday, May 31, 2010

Easy (and delicious) Chicken Noodle Soup

NewCamera_ChickenSoup_May2010_ This weekend we were hit with the sick bug and had way more snot than we could handle (as well as a couple with coughs) and what better than some homemade chicken soup? So simple. So delicious. And so moldable to your own liking. Try it some time. The boys ate it and all of them loved it. Sammy said, “did you make this because you love us?” :) That made my day (and made up for the other day when he asked me why I make gross stuff sometimes even though he ended up eating it and liking it!)
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups already cooked chicken meat (I used about 1.5 lbs (before cooking); you could also buy a rotisserie chicken; I just threw some olive oil in a pan and put the chicken breasts in until they were mostly cooked and then cut them up and threw them in the soup)
  • 6 cups water (I added two more cups of chicken broth at the end to make it more soupy since I put so many noodles in it; add more if you like it more brothy less if you want more soup and less broth!)
  • 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules (you could also just use 6 cups of broth and omit this--I find that it's cheaper to buy it this way!)
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 5-6 carrots cut into chunks (I just peeled them and then sliced them into thick quarter like pieces); the boys loved the carrots, I might even do 7 or 8 carrots next time since they loved them!)
  • 2-3 stalks of celery cut into chunks
  • 1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (this is the secret ingredient I think!)
  • kosher salt to taste (probably a good 1 teaspoon, since the base is water)
  • 50-cent piece size, or so, handful of raw spaghetti noodles to add at the end (I used a 7 oz bag of little "fideos" that look like broken up spaghetti; they’re like 50 cents or less at the store!)
  • Parmesan and Asiago cheese as an optional garnish
  • optional: add other veggies if you'd like (1 or 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chunked, 1 large handful raw spinach leaves to add at the end etc.)

The Directions.
  • Start with a slow cooker with 6 cups of water, and add chicken. Add all vegetables (except for the spinach leaves if you use them). Stir in the bouillon and vinegar. Salt to taste. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until veggies are tender and the onion is translucent.
  • 15 minutes before serving, put in raw spaghetti noodles and a large handful of spinach. Cover and flip to high.
  • Garnish with parmesan and asiago cheeses, if desired.
(You could easily just do this on the stove and simmer for 1-2 hours after bringing to a boil, when your carrots and celery are done the rest is probably fine since you start with cooked chicken)

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Father and Son’s Campout

NewCameraMay2010_FatherSons2010_ 003Last weekend was our ward’s father and son’s campout. I kept the baby with me since I figured the big boys would have more fun (if they didn’t have to worry about him going down for naps etc) and so Thad just took Sam and Nate. It was in Long Beach at Will. J. Reed Park and I think that they had a good time. They took hot dogs with them for dinner that night and the kids played and stayed up late by the campfire and then slept in the tent with Daddy.

NewCameraMay2010_FatherSons2010_ 035In the morning they awoke early (like the sun) and the played hard until about 8:15 when they decided to come home for breakfast and for the day. We had to leave by 10 for a funeral for my great aunt Bobbi so they couldn’t stay long. Thad is looking forward to next year when he can take all three boys (good for me eh?) :) The boys love the fire, the boys only night (Sammy was very specific that there were to be no girls at the campout) and of course, they loved the dirt and bugs

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Ready or Not Here He Comes...

IMG_4834 Our little Danny has been sitting happily for a few months watching his brothers run by. A week or two ago he started leaning out from his sitting position (all the way to being stretched out onto his tummy and then retracting back to his seated position but I think he’s finally got it down! :)

The last few days he’s “crawled” a crawl or two but this morning he has crawled over to get the things that he wanted a few times and as far as he had to go to get it before retracting back into a seated position. I hope we’re ready for a boy who is mobile!

The pictures: The top one IMG_4837is Danny almost at the Lego rocket that Sammy made for him to crawl to. The one to the right is him after he arrived and was quite pleased with himself.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

See my new teeth?

NewCameraMay2010_TheBoys_ 034(As told to Mommy by Danny)

I found something in my mouth about two weeks ago and my mommy finally got a picture where you can see them a bit…I have two little teeth coming in!

I like to chew on my lip so that I can feel them and sometimes I am mean and bite Mommy’s shoulder or arm just to bite something. She tries not to make too much of a funny reaction so that I don’t do it again but sometimes it is hard for her not to giggle!

Anyway. It is official! I have teeth. I now like eating Ritz crackers although today I stole a large sequin off of Mommy’s skirt and tried to eat it although Mommy wasn’t too happy when she saw me gagging. :D

Monday, May 10, 2010

A Fun Day at the Beach

NewCameraMay2010_SunsetBeachMay1_ 030

We packed up the kiddos, sunscreen, beach clothes, some sandwich supplies and some really big shovels and headed to the beach with the Marcroft side of the family last weekend and had a blast! It was a beautiful day, a bit windy but still beautiful, and the boys loved every bit of it. Even Great Grandma Marcroft made the trek (via the boys who lifted her wheelchair across the sand!) She loved holding my big kid and he was quite happy with her and kept looking back at her! She checked his hair and said with a smile, I do see some red in this hair!

NewCameraMay2010_SunsetBeachMay1_ 109The big boys (Thad, Eric, Josh, Sammy, Nate, and their cousins) dug giant holes that filled themselves with water since they were so close to the water level, the little boys played in the water holes and “helped” fill the holes up even though it never got any deeper.

NewCameraMay2010_SunsetBeachMay1_ 070I sat with Danny in the sand and enjoyed watching him pick it up and squeeze it and wiggle his toes in it. He can be pretty cute.

When the little guys started to get cold after playing in the cold water too long we headed back up to our stuff and had hoagies. YUM! We stayed and played in the sand a while, tried not too eat too much sand in our sandwiches and had a lot of fun! We will totally have to do this again!

P.S.  Enjoy the pictures! There are some really cute ones! :) I love the one of Sammy ready to run into the waves with his red pail to get water for the hole.

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